Well, Manitoba appears to be well stocked in case the swine flu virus spreads to our province. The province’s top doc says they have 200 thousand doses of antiviral drugs if needed. So far, there are no reported cases in Manitoba, but the virus has been linked to more than 150 deaths in Mexico.
Meantime, it’s not a pandemic, but the World Health Organization has raised its global alert level for the swine flu outbreak to Phase 4. That’s 2 notches below a pandemic…..enough for Ottawa to make a move. The country’s public health agency issued a travel advisory overnight, warning against travel to Mexico where the swine flu originated.
Help is on the way for a gem from Manitoba’s past. The province has announced it’ll spend one million dollars to help preserve what’s left of the Trappist Monastery Provincial Park, south of the city. The monastery was established along the LaSalle river in the late 1800’s, and was actually occupied until 1978, when new housing drove the monks away.
Homeowners affected by the recent flooding, are hoping the province will make a decision quickly on buy-out packages. Emergency Measures Minister, Steve Ashton is in Ottawa today to discuss the issue with the feds, and says mandatory buyouts may be needed.
Anyone wondering which North American city offers the best quality of life, may want to take a look at Vancouver. A new global survey released today rates Vancouver tops among North American cities, for quality of life, and 4th best in the world behind only Vienna, Zurich and Geneva. The survey also ranks Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Calgary higher than any major U.S. city.
Late night t.v. host, Jay Leno will visit Ohio next month, as part of his “Comedy Stimulus” show. 4 thousand tickets for the free show have already been handed out in the layoff plagued region.
A low flying plane zipping through Manhattan yesterday stirred memories of September 11th and unleashed a flood of startled office workers into the streets. What turned out to be a photo op for one of U.S. President Barack Obama’s official planes, is now just stirring up anger. Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the decision displayed “poor judgement.”
